Willard E. Van Der Maaten was born on the farm north of Alton on August 18, 1926. He was inducted Dec. 2, 1943 at Ft. Leavenworth, and assigned to the Air Forces. He had training at Amarillo and Laredo, Texas and was stationed at Lincoln, Nebr. and Tucson, Ariz., Topeka, Kansas and Langley Field, Va. receiving during this time two 7-day furloughs. He flew from March Field, New York Jan. 22, 1945 to the air base in China where he was stationed.
He was acting as top turret gunner and assistant radioman on a B-24 bomber, when the crew left on the mission from which none returned. He was Killed in Action on May 12, 1945 at the age of 17 in a plane crash on China mission and is now buried in the West Lawn Cemetery, Orange City, Sioux County, Iowa, USA.
Sgt Van Der maaten was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China but his surname is inscribed as Vandermasten.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com